In In re: TFT-LCD Flat Panel Antitrust Litigation, Toshiba, Corp. moved to dismiss Best Buy Co. Inc.’s liquid crystal display (LCD) price-fixing claims, on the ground that Best Buy lacks standing to seek antitrust damages under the Ninth Circuit’s recent ATM fee antitrust ruling. In July, the Ninth Circuit rejected claims brought by consumers over the foreign ATM fees banks pay to ATM network owners. The Ninth Circuit’s ruling was based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1977 ruling in Illinois Brick that a purchaser of a finished product containing price-fixed components cannot establish standing on the ground that it purchased the product directly from the alleged violator. In its motion to dismiss Best Buy’s claims, Toshiba claims that in light of this recent Ninth Circuit decision, Best Buy should not be allowed to seek damages under the federal antitrust laws because it bought laptops, monitors, and televisions that incorporate LCD products, but were not themselves price-fixed.
Besides Toshiba, thirteen other LCD defendants and a number of cathode ray tube manufacturers also moved to dismiss claims from companies who bought finished products, on the same grounds.